“Yep. Can we go?” Aaron fidgeted with the towel in his hand.
The whole impressive plan amazed him as he figured out all the nuances. Aaron’s brain was a marvel.
“You seriously got arrested on purpose?”
“Yep. I needed in the NSA. There were thousands of applicants. I had to get noticed.” Aaron started to move away, but Kreed stopped him, and Aaron groaned at being detained again.
“Stuart, that’s incredible. I mean, wow. You were really together to be so young. I was a stupid kid at twenty,” Kreed said, trying to remove the worry he could see in the tense lines of his lover’s body. He’d been very clear on this point. He’d stay by Aaron for as long as smart boy wanted him there.
“Not really. At any time that could have backfired. I could be sitting in prison right now for hacking a government website, especially back then. The Internet was only full of bad people.”
“I’m impressed,” Kreed said, finally letting go of Aaron. “I’ll go put the loungers up. You go pack your shit.”
“Don’t tell Knox. I like him a lot now. I didn’t really play too many video games until I met him. He got me involved. I go to the Rooster Teeth expo every year. I’m into The Creatures now and all their gaming podcasts. He opened the world to me. Please don’t tell him,” Aaron pleaded, following Kreed off the porch and back to the sand.
“I won’t—or at least I probably won’t. He can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. I might have to drop it then,” Kreed teased as he reached the lounge chairs. He quickly folded the first one before grabbing the other. He finally looked up to see how Aaron had taken that joke. The evil eye he got back said it all, and he laughed. “Okay, I won’t. Come on. We have a plane to catch. We need to shut this place down.”
Chapter 35
“Hey, buddy,” Kreed said, coming through the airport baggage claim to see Cody standing just inside the door.
“Hey,” Cody replied, reaching for some of the heavy bags Kreed carried. Aaron had made a pit stop at the bathroom, but Kreed was too antsy to wait for him like he should have. The messages he and Knox had exchanged since they’d initially spoken about the resignation were becoming one-word clipped answers, and that, more than anything, told Kreed loud and clear that his partner wasn’t doing well with this turn of events. “Mitch is out by the car. We’re in a no-parking zone.”
“How’s he doing?” Kreed asked. He shook his head when Cody tried to take any of the baggage, knowing Knox would kick his ass if he let Cody carry more than his doctor-approved lifting limit. Instead, he moved around Cody toward the inside window of baggage claim. Kreed caught sight of Mitch standing on the curb right outside the airport. He was leaning against the hood of the SUV, arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders slumped as he studied the concrete at his feet. Kreed couldn’t miss the pain in his partner’s stance.
“Not too good. I haven’t seen him like this before,” Cody said, standing next to Kreed, looking out the window at Mitch.
“He doesn’t do this too often. Listen, Aaron’s in the bathroom. I’m going out. Can you wait on him for me?”
“Sure.”
Kreed didn’t wait for that answer before heading straight out to Knox, who never looked up on his approach. When he put his boots in Mitch’s line of sight and dropped the suitcases, his partner finally lifted his head. Kreed reached out and pulled the bridge of Mitch’s sunglasses down his nose to get a better look at his eyes. As suspected, they were full of sadness, red-rimmed, and totally sleep-deprived.
“It’s gonna be all right. I promise,” Kreed whispered loudly, going in for a solid I’m-here-for-you hug. Mitch loved his job more than any person Kreed knew, and his thanks for a job well done was to be sentenced to life behind a desk and have his dream yanked away from him. Skinner had to know the man wouldn’t stand for that. Mitch stayed quiet in the embrace then whacked Kreed’s back to get him to let loose. As he pulled away, he sniffled once and moved his thumb and forefinger over his eyes, underneath the glasses he’d put back in place.
“There some place we can talk?” Kreed asked, deciding they just needed to get this over with. He could feel Aaron and Cody coming up behind him.
Cody attempted a sneak attack, reaching down to snatch a suitcase on his way to the trunk, but Mitch moved quickly, grabbing the luggage from Cody and grumbling, “You’ve still got a weight restriction.”
“It’s not that heavy,” Cody started, but let Mitch have the case with a sigh. Cody’s worried gaze lingered on Mitch then darted toward Kreed. The whole scene became a little more heartbreaking when he registered the deep pain in Cody’s gaze as he worried about his man.
No one spoke. Kreed opened the back door and ushered an unsure Aaron into the car as Mitch opened the back and deposited the luggage inside. Kreed tossed his duffle in the back and crawled in next to Aaron.
Once everyone was in the SUV, Mitch stared at Kreed in the rearview mirror a moment before saying, “Michaels invited y’all to stay there. Montgomery’s gym is still closed. It has a big meeting room if you wanna talk there, or we can go to their house.”
“Which is closer?” Kreed asked.
“It’s Dallas. Who the hell knows? Traffic sucks all the time,” Mitch replied.
“Whichever you’re more comfortable with.” Kreed shifted in the backseat. His legs didn’t quite fit, even though it was a large SUV. They rode almost the whole way in silence. Of course he asked a question here and there, but all he got in reply were one-word answers, so he finally just stopped trying to make small talk. He guessed Mitch had chosen Jace’s gym, when they pulled to the front of a large building with Cheer Dynasty in big, bold letters lighting the front. The place was as impressive as Colt had made it sound.
“We should have gotten into cheerleading,” Kreed mumbled, getting out of the car. Cody got out of the passenger side and gave a chuckle as he slammed the door.
“Mitch says that every single time we come by here,” Cody said. Mitch was already several steps ahead of them, so they followed him up the walkway to the front doors. Mitch opened the unlocked door then led them along the back wall while he lifted a hand toward a glass wall where Jace and his staff sat talking.
“He said the first door on the left down this hall would be quiet and unused.” Mitch shot back over his shoulder, never slowing the pace.
“He’s kind of freaking me out,” Aaron whispered to Kreed as they walked side by side down the trophy-lined corridor.
“Yeah, he’s not good,” Kreed confirmed as they neared the room.
“I hope you have some sort of magic plan.” Aaron nudged him playfully with his shoulder.
“It felt like a good idea. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe I should’ve just called Skinner.”
Mitch flipped on the light and took a seat at the opposite side of the table. Cody followed. This quiet thing his partner did was just too weird. Kreed might not have ever seen Mitch this deep in a funk before. As the last one into the room, Kreed shut the door behind him before taking his seat. He figured the best way to handle the situation at this point would be to just dive right in.
“How’d they take the news you were quittin’?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a little surprised, but they’re hard to read. You know how they are. Skinner called me last night then again this morning, but it was just to talk me into their shitty plan,” Mitch said, shaking his head. “I’m not interested in that.”
“What are your thoughts on what to do next?” Kreed asked, watching Mitch’s facial expressions for any tells. Mitch’s sunglasses still covered his eyes, making it nearly impossible to get a full read.
“I don’t have a backup plan. I never thought I’d need one,” Mitch answered, shrugging.
If possible, his partner got smaller in that moment, looked a little more lost. Man, it sucked. Just two weeks ago, they were hugging each other in a show of solidarity and a job well done. Now the government beat the shit out of the very man who saved so many lives. Kreed would never hav
e seen Skinner pulling this kind of move.
“Well, I figured they’d wanna move you when Cody took that bullet. I knew it was a certainty when they wouldn’t let you back on the case, and I’m trying real hard to put a spin on it that they want you safe and away from ground zero, which, to them, is Texas. But listen, man, I’ve been thinking about something for a little while now. I don’t know the logistics. It can be talked out, but I think the idea has merit and we should give it a try.”
“All right, I’m listening,” Mitch said, sliding out of his coat and letting it hang over the back of the chair. He could hear in Knox’s voice that he’d sparked his friend’s interest.
Mitch’s black, cotton shirt grabbed Kreed’s attention and distracted him from the conversation for a moment. He just shook his head and laughed at the picture of a strong, masculine fist filling the expanse of Mitch’s broad chest, under which the words “Nothing Says ‘I Love You’ Quite Like Fisting” were emblazoned in bold purple and silver lettering.
“Nice shirt.” Kreed nodded toward the object in question, and Mitch just grinned and slid the glasses off his face, set them on the table, then scooted up a little in his seat.
“Cody thought so too,” Mitch replied, giving Cody a wink. Cody’s eyes narrowed, even though his gaze stayed trained on Mitch, but his face brightened. Knox turned back to Kreed with his dark brows lifted. “So what’s your big plan, Sinacola?” The guy looked almost willing to take any carrot Kreed might dangle.
“I think we should get into private corporate security.” He just laid it out there as plainly as he could.
“What do you mean…we?” Mitch asked, his brow furrowed, confusion twisting his face.
“You and I have connections. I think we could make a partnership work in the private sector. Our backgrounds are solid, so the corporate world might trust us. If we can land some contracts, we know more than enough guys who are always looking for part-time work. They’re trained, so whatever we couldn’t handle, we’d have backup. We could have an office in Austin, keep you close to Turner, keep me closer to my parents. They need me around more.”
“Are you saying you’d leave the Marshals Service to start this business with me?” Mitch studied him, and Kreed could tell he’d gotten stuck on those few first words and hadn’t necessarily processed anything else he might have heard yet.
“Yeah. I can put my notice in today. I got nothin’ keeping me there, especially now.” Kreed didn’t hesitate, not even needing to think twice before he’d spoken. No way would he ever give Aaron up or haul him in. Kreed lived by a code of conduct. He was loyal and tried for honorable to the best of his ability. Every day he continued to work for the justice department, knowing what he was hiding in his relationship, would be a day he lived a lie and that just wasn’t who he was as a man.
“Why would you do that?” Mitch countered.
“I have no ties to them at all. I’ve been sticking around because of you. Besides, I really do need to be closer to my parents, and if this works out with me and Stuart, I have a better chance of talking him into moving to Austin than I do to Camp Beauregard.”
Mitch just stared at him, and Kreed held back the smile that threatened. He’d left his friend speechless. Good, he wanted Mitch to digest everything he’d said.
“I have a decent savings. You have one too. There’s a lot of shit we need to figure out in starting a business. I’ve never done anything like that before, but I’ll invest everything I’ve got into making this work. You and I work well together. It seems like a no-brainer.” Kreed shifted in his chair, placing both elbows on the table and leaning toward Mitch. His buddy mirrored his pose, and that caused Kreed’s heart to lighten. No matter what was said from that point forward, he could tell Mitch was in.
“But is it enough to sustain a startup?” Mitch’s brow lifted, clearly thinking through the possibilities.
Kreed wanted to drop a line like, “Don’t think too hard, it might hurt,” but decided to hold off until he got the verbal confirmation he needed.
“I haven’t put pen to paper, but we can start small, invest back into ourselves for a while. However that process works. Neither of us needs a lot to live on,” Kreed suggested.
“I want in,” Aaron spoke up. Up until then, Aaron and Cody hadn’t uttered a single word; they’d both sat there listening intently, but stayed out of the conversation. Everyone’s attention shifted to Aaron.
“What?” Kreed asked, totally taken aback by Aaron’s comment.
“You want in how?” Mitch asked before Kreed had the chance. Everyone in the room sat up a little straighter, waiting on the answer.
“I know you haven’t ironed anything out, but there’s no bigger risk to corporate security than what I do and I promise I’ve never met anyone better than me at finding holes in systems,” Aaron said. Kreed schooled his features, hid the smirk, and turned back to Mitch. Okay, that had been unexpected.
“I don’t know that we’d have a salary for you—” Mitch started.
Aaron cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Money’s not a problem. I could keep us floating for a long time.”
Kreed swiveled his head back toward Aaron. He’d pretty much equated Stuart to a cyber Robin Hood, but nowhere in that thought had he ever believed Aaron had taken a financial gain while working with Protector, yet Aaron sounded confident and sincere in his offer. The gesture caused his heart to do a little flip at the generosity. The kid was such a sweetheart to offer, but he doubted Aaron had saved up a whole lot with the peanuts the government paid.
Then again, the thousand dollars on earbuds came to mind. Yeah, the kid didn’t save well at all. There was silence as all eyes rested on Aaron. Kreed was the first to bite, just to get the question out of the way. “How could you do that?”
Aaron’s blue gaze landed on Kreed, and there was a little bit of panic in them. “Don’t be mad.”
Okay, with his guy, that could mean anything. He took a deep breath, re-centered himself, and focused on Aaron. That wasn’t the best possible way to start an explanation, so Kreed asked the first thought that came to mind. “Should I hear this in private?”
“We can leave,” Cody started to say and immediately pushed away from the table to stand. Mitch didn’t follow. For the first time that day, he looked eager and completely engaged in the conversation. The Mitch he knew and loved was back, ready to hear this bombshell and no doubt unwilling to leave the room until he did. His buddy kicked back in his chair and anchored his boots on the table.
“Nah, babe, we’re good. What Aaron has to say to Kreed, he can say in front of me,” Mitch stated matter-of-factly.
“I think that only works if I’m the one saying that.” Kreed scowled at his long-time partner who appeared to be back to his old self for the most part. Kreed cocked his head toward the door, staring at Mitch. “Go.”
“No, really, I’m good. Keep going.”
“Come on,” Cody urged, knocking Mitch’s feet off the table and tugging him by his T-shirt. Mitch finally got up and followed, but left the door cracked. How his partner could shift moods so quickly always amazed him. Kreed sighed, stood to close the door, but the door slammed shut a little harder than necessary before he moved from the table. Cody must have beat him to it.
Aaron turned completely in his chair, scooting closer to Kreed as he took his seat again. He watched the look on Aaron’s face as he lifted his head and their eyes met. Kreed didn’t make any sudden movements and didn’t say a word. He could tell this one secret was a doozy and wondered how many more times in their lives he’d have this same moment. The breath he hadn’t known he held slipped free. He’d been warned there was more to come with smart boy, but didn’t anticipate that to happen right in the middle of his and Mitch’s life-changing discussion. This felt like having the rug pulled out from under him twice in a matter of seventy-two hours. He braced himself as Aaron started to speak.
“My real name’s not Aaron Stuart, even though it’s been th
at for the last ten or so years,” Aaron started.
“Okay, what’s your name?” Kreed interrupted his story but tried to hide the anxiety of that question and swiped at the small amount of dust on the table. He wasn’t sure he could look Aaron in his eyes at the moment. There were so many emotions swimming around in his head.
“Don’t judge me, all right?” Aaron took a deep breath before he spoke.
“Just tell me, please,” Kreed shot back.
“My name’s Aaron Drake.”
Kreed’s head lifted toward Aaron, who looked almost apologetic at the confession. That admission sat there between them as though the name was supposed to mean something to Kreed, but he had no clue why that name might matter. When seconds passed with him evidently not responding appropriately, Aaron squinted his eyes and stared at him even harder as if trying to relay some sort of a hidden meaning with his gaze.
Oh shit.
Everything clicked in place and almost knocked the breath out of him. No fucking way! It couldn’t be, could it? “Drake. Like the Drakes who own the whole fucking world? Those Drakes?”
Aaron nodded slowly. The longer Kreed stayed quiet, the more worried Aaron’s expression became. The kid fidgeted nervously with his hands, picking at his nails, and honestly, Aaron should have some anxiety over that revelation. One of the wealthiest families in the world, the same ones who’d had their hands in real estate, finance, refineries, pipelines, chemical plants, and retail, who’d shaped politics and owned pretty much the entire world for centuries… Kreed exhaled deeply, yet another breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. This was a game-changer.
“What else should I know?” Kreed asked, instead of stating the obvious. What would a guy like Aaron ever see in a lower-middle-class public servant like him? “Let’s get it all out on the table now and be done with it.”
Aaron took a deep breath, blew it out through his mouth, and said, “I graduated from MIT when I was seventeen. My family drives me bat-shit crazy. I don’t live around them, only spend time with them about every other Christmas when I forget how bad they suck. I opted out of the family business, but my grandfather left the bulk of his rather large estate to me, which pissed my family off, something I still get reminded of when I’m around them. So yeah, that makes me obscenely loaded.” Aaron bit his lip, worrying the plump flesh with his teeth.
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